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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449723">Hetalia - APH - Adopted!Son!Russia x Mother!Reader</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWolfShipper/pseuds/TheWolfShipper'>TheWolfShipper</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hetalia: Axis Powers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:21:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449723</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWolfShipper/pseuds/TheWolfShipper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Reader is a forest spirit that lives in the mostly deserted lands of Russia, land of no-one. Hired by General Winter, she must protect this land by all means necessary so all of it can be given to the newest and youngest nation of the world, Rusia, after he is born and trained by General Winter. However, on a cold night, she finds a newborn Rusia left to die on the harsh winter forest after finding out he was born weak and small, in comparison to other countries who have been born a little bit older and healthy.</p><p>Reader decides to take in this baby as her own and raise him by herself to prove General Winter his mistake, and to give little Russia another chance to live.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Russia (Hetalia) &amp; Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hetalia - APH - Adopted!Son!Russia x Mother!Reader</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This fanfic was originally made for Russia's birthday, but it ended up getting uploaded a few hours later<br/>Happy birthday, Russia!!</p><p>(Also, this is the first fanfic I've ever written in here. If you have any suggestions or tips, I will gladly take them! Thank you!)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sound of wood being chopped could be hear at a long distance from the edge of the town closest to you, pretty near to your warm home. You held your axe tightly as you chopped down a tree to get some fuel for your fireplace, as well as some material you could work with today. A normal human would spend most of their day at the forest, exhausting their poor arms to death just for a few branches. You, however, could take them down pretty quickly if you tried, for you were no human. Well, not something that landed on the definition of ‘human’, at least.</p><p>The townspeople called you the Spirit of Life, different folklore of many countries told your story and was passed down through generations of people. You were exactly as people described you; a human-like spirit with the power to talk to nature and heal every known illness in the world with just a touch of your finger and a hum from your throat, and healed those you considered worthy of your treatment… But then came the tricky parts of the story; you were not really fond of people, you made just a few exceptions… And you were kind of aggressive when it came to protecting yourself and what you considered your territory, and just like you had the ability to cure every illness, you were capable of producing horrible diseases and giving it to any living being… So it would be a true challenge to even get close to you if you were in a bad mood. Thus, you, the Spirit of Life, decides who lives and who dies by your hand. A lot of people believed in you, a lot of people didn’t. You were a rumor, a small light of hope, an unknown entity… Therefore, the people gave you a name, a purpose.</p><p>This is exactly the reason of why another spirit that proclaimed he was the embodiment of winter itself offered you a job at his turf, as another guardian of his territory. The thing he offered was a quiet home in the woods, where you could install yourself pretty much wherever you wanted… You ended up making a cozy house in the middle of the woods, not so far from the only town… Well, kingdom was the correct term here, that had actual people living in it and managing their own hierarchy just fine. When you questioned you not-really boss about it, he said those were his people, and tried not to harm them… Key word being ‘tried’. </p><p>Quite the grumpy man that spirit of a general was, he could bring the deadliest snowstorms and blizzards to any place he wanted to… More specifically, he brought a deadly winter to an enormous area in Europe and declared he was protecting the area for a greater good. This was General Winter, the most boring soul alive, you would say… But he was a well-known legend amongst legends. Everyone knew who he was, and thus tried not to mess with him. Well, everyone with a functioning brain didn’t try to mess with him, and this always ended up wrong. If they did manage to get past the General who didn’t make almost any mistake, you would kill them on sight. At least you two didn’t have to say a word to each other in your patrols. </p><p>You knew a lot of countries wanted the territory that General Winter was guarding, but absolutely no troop was ever be able to come out from the forest as soon as they entered. If they were not killed by the old spirit’s wind, you would give the final blow to every single troop. Hence, they called General Winter’s territory a ‘Haunted Forest’. Almost no one dared to step in if they truly valued their lives.</p><p>His job was to protect the outside of his territory, and yours was protecting the inside from any intruders. More specifically speaking, he took care of almost everything, and you just had to watch over the huge town that laid in the middle of the coldest mountains and forests there could ever be in the whole world. Pretty easy-going job, that’s why you took it in the first place. It’s not like you had anywhere to go to torment people.</p><p>Oh, no, you were not a bad spirit, you were just really pissed at people sometimes and they seemed to beg to get into your nerves. You used to torment the people who mistreated animals, for example. Or those who stole something, and you messed with their head a little so they would change their mind. Things like that. You liked to call it ‘justice’ better than some sort of punishment. Actually, that might’ve actually been why Teutonic Knights liked you so much, sometimes you were ruthless. Yes, you did know about the existence of countries, you would know. You were best friends with Germania before he passed away, and used to live at his place. After that, you took care of his albino son for a while until he grew up: Teutonic Knights… Order? Which one was it again? You were really old in age, you couldn’t remember much about that time. You do remember healing a small kid from his scars a lot, though. Nowadays he was the Kingdom of Prussia, you think. The last thing you knew about him is that he was doing well nowadays, good for him. You didn’t know if he remembered you, though.</p><p>A cold breeze caught you off guard and made you shiver and snap from your thoughts as your tree almost fell on top of your head thanks to the harsh movement of wind. That was definitely General Winter’s doing, and you could confirm so by looking at the sky. The clouds were starting to show a grey color, which was a cue for you to get to your home as soon as possible before a blizzard came up and froze you to death. Gosh, he actually seemed horribly mad at something, you wonder who provoked him… But you were not going to find out about what happened afterwards. </p><p>The tree you cut was fairly small, so carrying it was no big deal. With a lot of willpower obtained thanks to the wish of not becoming a living ice cream, you grabbed the tree’s trunk and dragged it through the snow, going to your small shed that was nearby to save the wood there and not let it get moldy or wet from the snow storm that was approaching. You made it there in a few minutes, you were fairly close to home, after all. Once the tree was successfully stored, you closed your shed tightly and immediately headed to the inside of your home. You grabbed your keys, opened the door, and was greeted with the warmth of your tiny home. Nothing too fancy, but nothing too shabby either, it was honestly one of your best creations. </p><p>You closed the door again behind you before checking everything was locked properly. Apparently you got there just in time, the blizzard was starting to show its first signs of a harsh wind coming your way, accompanied with a ton of snow… This was going to be one of the worst blizzards you were ever going to witness in your life… Good thing your home was safe and perfect for this weather. Maybe you could prepare a warmth bath while you were at it… Yeah, that sounded nice. A warm bath in a raging blizzard, after that maybe watch something on television, writing in your diary while drinking some hot chocolate with marshmallows and then sleep in your warm bed… Okay, that sounded absolutely delightful, you were going to do that now.</p><p>You didn’t waste any time after checking every single entrance to your warm house was locked, and went directly to your bathroom, which was right by your room. You had a bathtub you used for these special occasions where you liked to treat yourself after a long day of work. You were already grabbing a clean towel, ready to give yourself a small treat… Until you heard something that made you immediately stop what you were doing. No, it was nothing inside your home… You had a far better hearing than a normal human, you could tell these kinds of things immediately.</p><p>It was outside, you were sure.</p><p>In the middle of a raging blizzard.</p><p>You left the bathroom in order to get a little bit closer to the strange sound that could be heard in the distance. You ended up at the entrance of your house once more in order to see where the noise was coming from… And finally, you picked something aside from the horrifying noise of harsh wind.</p><p>It was the sound of something wailing…</p><p>A human. A human child. A human child was wailing in a snowstorm.</p><p>Something inside you snapped as soon as you identified what the noise was. That was definitely someone in danger out in a snowstorm, you had to see what was going on. You didn’t even question it twice, you grabbed your keys once more and opened the door as quick as possible. You didn’t even had to open the door, the wind kindly smashed the wooden door against your face, making you flinch and try to prepare yourself for closing the door as soon as you got out… The other hand made sure to rub your face in the place where it was hit to soothe the pain, you had no time to heal yourself.</p><p>Thankfully you didn’t get your winter clothes off yet, so as soon as the cold hit your face, you tried to determine where the sound was coming from… As soon as you got another signal, you made a run for it and smashed the door behind you and sprinted through the snow, leaving footstep marks on the snow. Levitating was a terrible idea in this sort of weather, you would have to take the long route to the endangered child.</p><p>You followed the cries and let it be a guide for your sense of direction. You knew you didn’t have much time before the small child ended up dead because of the freezing temperatures that covered the whole place like some sort of curse. Thankfully the sound seemed to get louder and louder as you approached the faint crying. You were looking frantically for the source of the crying, you actually felt anxious as time ticked more and more, each second would be crucial to save a life. You tried to hurry as much as possible…</p><p>And a shot of relief went trough your body once the crying became clear in between the merciless wind, as you had found your objective: A brown basket that was about to be buried in the snow. You hurried your steps towards the small object, and finally came to a stop with a gasp as you saw what was inside. </p><p>Inside the basket laid a small baby with silver hair surrounded by a dirty ragged cloth, beneath it a white and long piece of clothing was used as a sort of cushion, but seemed visibly stiff and wet due to the snow that had accumulated in the tiny casket and melted in its own warmth. Its body barely shivered, it had a runny nose, his limbs grew harder to move each second that passed as the winter cold froze his muscles. The baby wailed with difficulty as it balled its fists and held its arms close to its chest, it seemed to try to curl its body as much as possible to its poor excuse of a clothing item in an attempt to provide itself some warmth in this unforgiving blizzard. Hell, it panted between cries with a choked sound that absolutely destroyed you on the inside. It wouldn’t surprise you if the kid was showing symptoms of pneumonia, the blizzard was strong, and the baby barely had anything to cover it properly. Were they trying… to deliberately kill a child?</p><p>That thought alone made your blood boil with anger. Humans were the most selfish creatures of them all… To go this far to inflict pain on an innocent soul was something that was far beyond your comprehension.  </p><p>You didn’t even think twice before reaching for the small creature and pulling it out of the basket gently, yet as quick as you could to hide it from this raging storm beneath your coat before it was too late and the poor sweetheart froze to death. Its back felt awfully moist due to the weird long material that laid beneath it a few seconds ago, so you tried drying it with your own coat to prevent it from getting freezing. You didn’t have a problem with your clothes getting wet. In fact, the winter would probably dry that spot up in no time.</p><p>The poor little creature seemed to have been abandoned by a reckless parent or guardian. The basket didn’t fly away due to you holding it still with your boot. No note, no nothing. Humans were horrible, horrible beings… Some people could be seriously horrifying…</p><p>As soon as you scooped your arms beneath the small baby to give it comfort, the little infant immediately grabbed your clothes and buried its face into you and shivered due to it feeling scared and cold, as if pleading to every god in existence that you would not let go. You were his only source of comfort and warmth… He trusted you, he knew that, whoever you were, you were there to save him.</p><p>And you were not letting this poor thing down.</p><p>With a swift movement from your foot, you managed to stick you head into the basket in one go, letting it hand from your neck. Immediately after this, you retreated from the place and made a run for it. Getting back home in a blizzard was always the hardest part of the whole road… A human would’ve lost their way home as their footprints would be erased by the wind… Again, you were no human. You knew this forest like the palm of your hand, and you were sure as heck that you were getting back home safe with this baby. What you were going to do with the baby once you two were safe could be thought about later. For now, your objective was to survive.</p><p>“General, what the hell has gotten over you?!” you asked no one in particular as you rushed to your home. The way back, thankfully, was shorter than going out since you knew this time where to go. As soon as you saw the lights of your home shimmer in the distance, you knew you both were going to be okay.</p><p>You don’t think you’ve ever opened a door so quickly, you almost fell down with the small baby in your hands to the ground. You saved the fall in time, though. And as soon as you did, you forced the door shut with your whole body and gave out the biggest sigh of relief ever and plopped yourself to the ground, careful to not harm the baby in the process. You used your free hand to get the basket out of the way and settled it to the ground. As you huffed for warm air, it seemed the small baby immediately followed you actions, it gasped painfully to be able to breathe… And this is where you knew your abilities would help you out.</p><p>Gulping some air to compose yourself quicker, you took the baby out of your jacket and took a closer look at it. It was quite the chubby little creature, that was probably a thing that helped it survive in the cold for so long. And now your powers were going to help him. You placed your hand on top of his chest as he breathed in an abnormal way. Not anymore, you decided. You hummed softly as you held the baby close to you, closing your eyes and concentrating on saving this small child from asphyxiation and getting rid of anything that might’ve made a more complicated symptom reveal itself. You knew your power was working, since the baby’s gasps became less awkward and the small hint of a wheeze in its voice was removed little by little. Soon enough, you got a fully healthy baby in your arms… But sadly, you did not remove emotions from the traumatic equation, so of course, as soon as the infant could do so, the baby finally started crying anxiously due to the horrible experience it had suffered.</p><p>You immediately opened your eyes afterwards and finally came to your senses, feeling bad for the silver-head child. “Oh, you poor little thing…” you cooed softly as you raised it up to your chest and hugged the baby. It barely seemed to be a year old, old enough to stop feeding on breast milk. The baby responded with a terrified and clingy hug as it cried its heart out. “Gosh, look at what they’ve done to you… You must be so cold…”</p><p>Cold… the baby was cold. Of course, you needed to give it a warm bath as soon as possible to get rid of the nasty feeling that was overwhelming it.</p><p>“Come here, honey.” You said as you stood up and held it firmly against you. It seemed to comply with you immediately, because it didn’t seemed like your clothes were going to be freed from its grasp any time soon. You went to your bathroom again and immediately turned the shower, but this time the warm water pouring out of it was not for you. It was for the baby.</p><p>“Here, let me get rid of this old and damp thing.” You carefully took the baby’s clothes off as soon as the steam of warm water started to flow freely through the room, making the teary-eyed sweetheart open his eyes for the first time. You were gifted with a beautiful surprise: Violet orbs that sparkled like the moon itself and met yours as the creature sniffled and let out a hiccup. He had the most beautiful set of eyes you have ever seen in a person. It was a unique color, it was incredibly pretty. You couldn’t help but smile at… Him. The baby was a ‘him’, you soon discovered as you had looked down once his torn cloth was removed from his body. Thankfully, he did not seem to be injured anywhere.<br/>
“Hey, sweetie. Don’t worry, you are okay now.” You called to the one year old. After a couple of blinks from him, he seemed to want to reach for your face, and you let him by tilting it forward. Now that you saw this too from this new angle, he seemed to have a prominent nose, too. That somehow made him cuter than before. Once he reached your cheeks and got a hold of them, his crying stopped all of a sudden and was just sniffling at this point as he felt your skin with his plump hands. They felt like they were freezing, but you let it pass. It seemed he gained enough trust in you to know he could touch you without any problem.</p><p>You eyed the bathtub, and as soon as it got enough warm water for the baby, you turned the shower off. You touched the water to see if the temperature was bearable for the baby… It seemed to be perfect, in your opinion. “Alright bud, here you go. Let the water warm you up.” You announced as you pulled him away gently from your face and slowly but surely made him sit in the bathtub. He seemed to flinch at his first contact with the water, but soon settled inside of it as soon as he felt the coldness from his body wash away. His sniffles now disappeared as you began taking some of the water with your hand and started rubbing it against his skin with care.</p><p>“Feels pretty good if I do say so myself, huh?” you asked the infant, who now stared at you with those beautiful eyes of his and eyed you curiously. You tilted your head. He tilted his. You couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a funny child.” You declared, touching the baby’s nose with your index finger softly and letting out a ‘boop’ at the same time. For the first time… The baby smiled and giggled as you did this and reached out for you, touching your nose as well using his whole palm. “Aw, what a cutie!”</p><p>A warm feeling, indeed. That smile was incredibly precious, as well as the baby. Who could’ve abandoned such a cute child?</p><p>You began to work on pouring some shampoo in your hands to start washing him thoroughly as quick and careful as possible. He was not scared about it, to your surprise. He was more mesmerized on the bubbles that fell from his head and made their way to the tub, making sure to pop them often. He was rather small, so you ended up washing his hair and his body in less than ten minutes, much to his dismay. He was enjoying the warm bath, but the feeling of the fresh towel you put up before sprinting from the house did keep him calm, too.</p><p>You, of course, didn’t have any diapers… So you had to make one from a small and soft piece of cloth you found in your closet. As for the baby clothes, you actually did have a uniform from the Teutonic Knights… Order, whatever, in your possession that Prussia left behind as soon as he became a little bit older. You kept it as a memento, but now it was time to put it into good use. Finally, you had a happy and warm baby in your arms. Too happy and too warm. The baby yawned and rubbed his eyes before cuddling in your grasp, closing them as you felt his body relax. He absolutely had faith and trust in you… Two things you never expected to receive in your life, leaving you astonished for a second before starting to pet his hair, which led him to give a small hum of happiness… Followed by a snore after a minute.</p><p>You had a baby sleeping in your arms. You did not see this coming into you life, but oh well, better receive it with open arms than deny it. You bounced the boy softly as you cradled him and stared at him in awe and love. You had gotten way more than you could’ve ever wished for in one day. You knew you were only good at taking care of his basic needs because that’s what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to take care of someone, you knew this… And yet, you never found them. Your job as a spirit became meaningless after a while… This felt refreshing.</p><p>And talking about something refreshing, you felt a fresh wind hit your face. You knew what it meant. Thankfully everything outside seemed way calmer than before, so you could open your living room window and let everything happen as you knew it.</p><p>You opened the window with one hand, and was immediately greeted by the same grumpy face you’ve gotten used to see.</p><p>“General Winter.”</p><p>“Spirit of Life.”</p><p>You greeted each other nonchalantly, this was usual… What was not usual was the look of surprise in his face as soon as he saw the boy you had cradled in your arms.</p><p>“Russia is… Alive?”</p><p>“Russia?” you quickly asked first, apparently the name startled the baby you held a little bit, bringing him to wake up suddenly. “And what do you mean ‘alive’?”</p><p>“This is the personification of the country of… Russia.” The man said… And apparently, the baby recognized his tone of voice, because as he heard the General talk, he turned around… And once he saw him, he started to wail as he held onto you. This immediately put you into an alert mode and gave a step back from the other spirit.</p><p>“You need some explaining to do. Russia is the name of the town we have been protecting for as long as I can remember, sir. Our town is no country.” You held the baby close to you as it whimpered and shielded itself from the eyes of the General… Why was he so terrified? An instantaneous red flag.</p><p>“No, no, you don’t understand.” The man quickly corrected. “Russia is not a town. It’s the name of the land. Whatever your eyes can manage to see from this little cottage, every tree, every animal, every small snowflake falling down from the sky… Everything you see here -is- Russia, madam. You are standing on it. Your cottage is part of the Russian territory. The town we have been watching over for centuries is Russian territory, too. The people inside the town just… gave the land a name. They think Russia is just limited to their homes and lousy farms… No. Russia is bigger… Way bigger than you imagine.”</p><p>You arched an eyebrow. “Care to explain how big, General?”</p><p>“Bigger than Canada.”</p><p>“You’re joking.” You stared at the man like you couldn’t believe your ears. Bigger than Canadian territory?</p><p>“No, I am the guardian of Russian lands. I was only protecting the land for when my child came to life.”</p><p>Some things started to make sense. That’s true, you never asked any of these things before, you just accepted the job and went along with it without thinking much of the situation.</p><p>“So that’s why you are so harsh towards people at the borders.” You whispered, trying to dry your baby’s tears. You knew you couldn’t directly ask what happened between them, you knew the General would get angry at you and snap… You didn’t want the child hurt, you needed to suck up your courage and try to lead him to tell you. “All of these years, I thought you were just being overprotective and territorial.”</p><p>“I am, miss. That’s my job as Russia’s guardian.” He nodded, almost too pridefully. Christ, did these human men ever change? “My job is to not let the impure people get in, people who want to conquer these lands for their own selfish reasons. They have been reserved for Russia for ages now, but he never seemed to appear before… I let it pass however. Russia was supposed to have the destiny of uniting all broken nations into one big, powerful, and fair single country. I knew I had to wait for the perfect child to appear on this forest and protect him from any harm… But then, when he was supposed to appear after a decision made by the Byzantine Empire, he just… Never appeared. Ever.” He seemed pissed as he remembered all of this, somehow. You, on the other hand, were starting to get intrigued… You nodded, trying to make him continue as soon as possible. You knew General Winter well, and you were absolutely sure he hated making conversations too long and unnecessary, so you urged him forward. “Time passed. More important events took place without Russia in them. It was not supposed to be that way. He was supposed to play a big part on history’s changes. Be in both World Wars, even. I thought it was just the life of the land preparing him for the right moment for him to come out as the perfect personification of Russia, and just today I felt him coming alive, and I immediately went to check on him so I could train him, as my job dictates… But…”</p><p>“But?”</p><p>“He wasn’t supposed to come out like… this. Countries are not supposed to be born in such a young state, the only exception is if the country was given birth by a female empire. This one…” He pointed at Russia, who seemed to freeze in his place and start to wail his heart out again. Instinctively, you shielded the poor creature and furrowed your eyebrows. “Is not part of that exception. He was not born by natural birth. He was not supposed to be this weak, he is helpless by his own. Even his older sister looked at him with pity before leaving him to perish in the winter. She seemed reluctant to leave him alone, but it had to be done.”</p><p>You blinked and looked at Russia, he was burying his face into your clothes as he cried. “… Sister?”</p><p>“Sisters, actually. He was supposed to have a big sister and a little sister, but since he came out late and wrong, they could be confused with two big sisters with a baby on their hands. Now you may as well call them strangers to Russia, they were convinced he would not survive a single night and left him alone. You might have heard about them, they are Miss Belarus and Miss Ukraine.”</p><p>You swear you felt your heart drop for a second. Yes, you did know them… By name, you mean. They were powerful ladies that showed the world what they got, the true representation of power and discipline. They were also raised by General Winter, as far as you knew.</p><p>“Miss Belarus did not take the decision well at first, I must say. She was heartbroken to do this, but I think it was the best thing for them to do in the end. His big sister, however, did leave him her scarf as a cushion. There used to be nothing under Russia before. It was just the basket.”</p><p>The basket.</p><p>Your eyes drifted to the abandoned basket before walking to it and picking up the damp item. It actually unfolded into a white and huge scarf. The texture of the material used for the sewing was soft, it did not itch, it was brand new. You couldn’t help but wonder how they felt knowing that they were supposed to have a brother, and years later, a small creature came in their lives but were so harshly raised they had no other option but to leave behind their own blood… “Those two did care about you, after all…” It was a horrifying experience, not only for Russia… But for the girls, too. They left him there, not in an attempt to kill him… They put him there in an attempt to survive. They wanted him to survive… because… They knew you were there. They knew you lived nearby. They knew there was another spirit that could give them a chance to see their brother.</p><p>They knew.</p><p>“… I will raise him.”</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“You heard me. I will raise him by my own.”</p><p>You held the scarf close to your chest, right besides the trembling body of Russia. You could feel the cold, too. The General was getting annoyed, you both could feel it. Russia was scared of him, but you? It was a whole different story.</p><p> “You’ve failed you job as a guardian if you gave up on Russia this easily. You treat him as if he were an object, which is unacceptable. Yeah, he might’ve took his sweet time to appear, and maybe he did not come out as this strong child or man you expected for a long time… But he’s here now, isn’t he? He did end up existing, didn’t he? That means he is still destined to be something big still. He deserves a chance to live.” A baby that was left to die because they didn’t see a single use for him… He really was fighting against everyone all alone.</p><p>The sheer cold that was starting to cover your previously cozy home was a sign of General Winter trying to intimidate you, you didn’t even bat an eye from his face.</p><p>“What would you know about this? What would you know about raising a country? Your child never came along in the first place. You didn’t even know what they were supposed to look like, to be like… Hell, you didn’t even know where they were going to be born. For all I know, that child could be dead because of your incompetence. I don’t even understand the reason of your existence. I am sure you would be dead by now if it weren’t for Germania.”</p><p>Now, that was crossing a sensitive line of yours, and this was shown by a sudden growl your throat made, almost animal-like. And it was not far from being that. You were starting to get pissed. Real pissed.</p><p>“Thin ice, General. Thin. Ice.” Humans couldn’t kill spirits… But spirits could kill their own kind if they wanted to, it’s not like they could get in trouble for that. “It’s not like you are too different from me.”</p><p>“What did you say?”</p><p>“The truth, ‘sir’.” You hissed with spite. “You left your country to die alone too, if my case was as you mentioned. And it was a choice of yours… You wanted to end with your only support’s life like a coward. You should be ashamed. He did not ‘come out wrong’ as you put it, General. He just has some… unexpected characteristics, is all. Someone has to do the job, I will take it, no matter what his state was supposed to be like. I will raise him by my own hand, I will teach him to be strong, how to survive and go against this cold world… I’ll show everyone that he is worth saving.” You never had the opportunity to meet your real subordinate and let them grow up to be a strong and powerful country… And now that another spirit had the opportunity you so desperately craved for years… They just decided to throw away a life like nothing. You couldn’t let this happen to a poor defenseless child, not someone who actually trusted his life in you. You softly pet Russia’s hair in order to assure him that everything was going to be okay.</p><p>“You are absolutely crazy if you think you can raise a country by yourself, woman. This is not some kind of human baby you can just take care of by your own.”</p><p>“Then tell me the difference, General. You just told me yourself that you have never seen a country in this state, you’ve never seen anyone this helpless before… If you are not willing to take the risk as a rightful guardian and protect who you are supposed to look after, I will take the job. I am another spirit, after all. My function was to take and raise someone like Russia from the very beginning, too. You don’t know what could happen. He just needs someone to believe in him. I do.” And as if Russia understood what you said, he looked up at you with small tears in his eyes that you gently wiped out of his face… He looked at you as if you were some kind of deity and he was completely grateful to you. Russia actually managed to hold you closer to him… It’s almost as if he understood you for a moment.</p><p>“He may be just a baby, but he has showed way more resistance than any human I have ever seen and put up a fight towards nature’s cruel weather. I believe he truly is a fighter, he has some potential inside him.” </p><p>“He has no chance of surviving or growing up as a normal country, he’s doomed. Don’t be ridiculous.”</p><p>“Speak for yourself. You hold no hope for the one you’ve been waiting for since you came into your senses. Some General you are, you can’t even guide your only soldier to victory because your ego and pride are the strongest enemies around…”</p><p>You ended up putting salt in the other spirit’s broken ego, which made you smile triumphantly. You showed your point. It seemed even the general looked down at the small baby, which in return evaded General Winter’s gaze and tried to get close to your corporal warmth. It seemed even Russia made his decision on the matter and wanted nothing to do with his original ‘caretaker’. The General scoffed.</p><p>“Time will prove you wrong.”</p><p>“We’ll see about that.”</p><p>And just like that, General Winter immediately left your home… And even if the falling snow outside didn’t seem to want to stop soon, the previous coziness of your house came back, leaving you with a trembling baby. You actually won an argument temporarily with the deadly General Winter, who could’ve guessed.</p><p>Your gaze went back to your… Apprentice. He really was your apprentice. The only thing you wanted for so long laid there in your arms, holding you tightly. The poor guy lost his family, his home, his hopes… All in one day. It must have been horrible for the small guy. You raised him a little bit higher just so you could give him a small kiss on his head, to which the baby responded with a jolt of surprise… followed by some tears falling from him. Even though he didn’t made a single peep this time, you could tell he was grateful for pushing the cold away once more.</p><p>“It’s okay, baby. Don’t listen to that old grumpy man.” You would need a lot of baby supplies if you were going to have Russia in your home. You didn’t mind, you could just buy everything you needed at the town. “So I know your name now… Russia, huh. Pretty name.”</p><p>You booped your newest addition to the family on the nose so the tears stopped flowing from him. Afterwards, you cradled him like a newborn so he could go back to sleep. This new and warm position seemed to make him look a little bit drowsy. “It will be fine, sweetheart. Now you got me, I will make sure to take care of you. Its okay now. It will be okay, I’m here. You are not alone anymore. Shh… Shh…” You whispered softly, trying to get Russia to become sleepy… And it seemed to be working, he yawned and rubbed his half-lidded eyes softly before putting his hands on his chest with closed fists.</p><p>"They call me the Spirit of Life, but my human name is (Y/N) Braginsky. I will be your caretaker from now on, Russia. It's nice to meet you." Your hand went over one of his plump cheeks without thinking much about it, you just wanted to have physical contact with him so he could feel the warmth of your hand. What you didn't expect was a sleepy baby grabbing your finger, his hand barely managing to wrap itself around you. Well, that was a way to introduce himself, definitely. You let out a soft laugh. "Aw, you are such a sweetheart…" You were not expecting your day to go like this, but it was definitely not a bad thing at all. In fact... It gave you a reason to live, quite literally. Spirits could not live for long without a purpose, which was the thing that would've killed you centuries ago if it weren't for Germania. He accepted you as his own guardian, and gave you another chance to survive when he told you his last wish, for you to take care of his son... Gilbert. You were the one who gave Prussia his own name, actually. And it was your turn once more to give another child a name of their own. "I guess you are gonna need a human name too, now that I think about it… I can't tell everyone in town I am taking care of a personification of a landmass, that would be weird. Not impossible, but weird." Mostly, you knew you were talking to yourself at that point. Russia had closed his eyes and began to wander of to his first dreamland, his new life was about to start.</p><p>You looked at your sleeping baby cradled in your arms, snoring softly and breathing calmly after knowing he would be safe around you. You looked at your new treasure with a new kind of parental love as you looked at his sleeping figure, finally looking calm after all the mess that happened today… You were going to make sure he grew up healthy, to make sure he became strong, you would take care of him like you would’ve taken care of your unknown child. Your kid now laid in your arms asleep… Your baby.</p><p>“Your name will be Ivan Braginsky. And you, love… Are my dearest son.”</p>
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